West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1887-01-21
THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN.
The Culver.

away, hut it will appear after many
days. "When / was little child"
said good old man, my mother
used to bid me kneel down beside her
and place her hand upon my head
while she prayed. Ere l was old
enough to know her worth she died,
and I was left too much to my own
guidance. Like others, l was in
clined to evil passions, but often felt
myself checked and, as it we're, drawn
back by soft hand upon my head.
When young man travelled in for
eign lands and was exposed TO many
temptatations, but when I would
have yielded that same hand was
upon my head and was saved. l
seemed to feel its pressure as in the
happy days of my infancy, and some
times there came with it a voice in
my heart, voice that was obeyed:
"Oh, do not this wickedness, my son,
nor sin against God"
With children you must mix gen.
tleness with firmness. "A man who
is learning to play on a trumpet and
a petted child are two very disagree
able companions" If a mother
never has headaches through rebuk-
ing her little children she shall have
plenty of healtachcs when they grow
up. At the same time mother
should not hamper her child with
unnecessary, foolish restrictions. 1t
is great mistake to fancy that your
boy is made of glass, and to be al
ways telling him not to do this and
not to do that for fear Of his break
ing himself. On the principle never
TO give pain unless it is to prevent
greater pain, you should grant every
request which is at all reasonable,
and let him see chat your denial of
thing is for his own good, and not
simply to save trouble; but once
having duly settled thing, hold to
it. Unless child learns from the
first that his mothers yea is yea,
and her nay is nay, it will get into
the habit of whining and cndeavor-
ing to coax her out of her refusal,
and her authority will soon be gone.
Happiness is the natural condition
of every norInal child, and if the
small boy Or girl has a peculiar ia
cility for any one thing it is for self
entertainment-with certain granted
conditions, of course. One of these ID
physical freedom and few rude and
simple piaythings. Agreeable occu
patton is as great a necessity for
children as for adults, and beyond
this almost nothing can be contribu
ted to the real happiness of q child.
Il try so hard to make my chill
dren happy!' said a mother, with
sigh one day, in despair at her efforts.
'Stop trying" exclaimed a practical
friend at her elbow, land do as a
friend of mine does" ''And how is
thatg" she asked, dolefully. "Why,
she simply lets her children grow
and develop naturally, only direct
ing their growth properly. She mas
always thrown them. as far as prac
ticable, upon their own resources,
taught them TO wait upon themselves,
no matter how many servants she
had, and to construct their own play
things When she returns home
from an absence they await but one
thing-their mothers kiss. What
ever has been bought for them is be-
slowed when the nec,,e,l time comes.
Nothing exciting is allowed to them
at night, and they go tc bed and to
sleep in a wholesome mental state,
that insures restful slumber. They
are taught to love nature, and to feel
that there is nothing arrayed so fine
ly as lily of the field, the bees and
the butterflies, that there is nothing
so mean as lie, nor anything so
miserable as disobedience, that it is
a disgrace to be sick, and that good
health, good teeth, and good temper
come from plain food, plenty of sleep
and being good" In good all
round education is likely to prove
more serviceable in the home and in
society than one or two supreme ac-
complishments. Many of us make
the mistake of confounding educa-
tion with requirements, and OF run
ming together mental development
and intellectual specialization. The
women of whom we are most proud |
in our own history were not remark
able for special intellectual acquire
ments so much as for general char
acter and the harmonious working |
of will and mortality. The Lady |
Fanshaws and Elisabeth Frys. the |
Mary Carpenters and Florence
Nightingales. whose names are prac-
ticaliy immortal, were not noted for
their learning, but they were none
the less women whose mark in histo-
ry is indelible, and the good they did
lives after them and will never die.
And taking one Of the, at least, par
tally learned ladies of the past-is
it her Latinity and her bookishness
that we anmirc so much in Lady |
Jane Greys or is it her modesty her,